Silence reigned inside the forest after seeing the adventurer get handled so easily by a thirteen year old boy.

"Woah… who is that kid?"

"How did he beat that guy? He's a renowned adventurer, you know?!"

Those that were about to complain had no choice but to keep their words to themselves. They didn't want to get their head knocked out as well.

Meanwhile, Katarina was even more surprised than any of the people around them.

He can fight?

Those movements were quick, fast, and accurate, as if it was done by someone experienced in battles.

She always thought that he was a nerd, just like her father. Historians like them had no time in their lives to sharpen their fighting skills.

From what she saw, his use of an Air spell to make himself extremely fast was even better than those magicians from the Guild of Arcana, which was very surprising. There was even barely a formation of a magic circle before he propelled himself almost at the speed of sound!

'Is that why my father recruited him?'

Perhaps it was because of the combination of his Air magic talent and his historical knowledge that the professor deemed him worthy enough to be his protege.

After seeing such disrespect from the adventurers, the Elf had him and the rest of his party escorted out of the forest, never to be seen again.

"I'm sorry for that," she said, bowing in a 90 degree angle. "Now please follow me back to our territory."

With the Elf guiding them, Michael and Katarina became one of the few privileged people invited into their homes.

And as they walked, Katarina asked him a question.

"Where did you get Darkwood?"

Even their organization would find it hard to scout for Darkwood in such a small amount of time. At the very least, they'd need two weeks, and even then, it was only by pure luck. No one could tell if a tomb had Darkwood buried in it.

"I happened upon it by chance," he replied to her, and nothing more.

After walking down for a few more minutes, they finally arrived at the Elven territory.

Michael found himself looking up at houses perched upon extremely tall trees high above in the skies. Many of them seemed inaccessible to normal humans, since they didn't have any stairs that led upwards.

Each of the houses were connected by hanging wooden bridges that strangely didn't sway as the wind blew past them.

This was a connected network of tree houses!

He saw Elves hanging their wet clothes through a string tied along branches, he saw Elves practicing their archery, shooting down at a red target painted with berries. He even saw some Elves playing around and swinging through the vines like a certain webbed super hero from his previous life!

"Please come this way," the Elf said, taking Michael's attention away from the village above.

"We're not going up?" he asked her.

The Elf shook her head. "Unfortunately, our residential district is still prohibited from foreigners," she said. "For now, I can only take you to our central building where we do business with outsiders."

She then led Michael and Katarina towards the thickest tree in the forest, with a building carved on the inside.

Everything seemed to be made out of one wood, the railings, the door, and the windows. Michael was surprised at the level of handicraft that the Elves had. It was even beyond what people in the modern world could create!

"Please wait here for a moment," the Elf said as she raised her bow and took out a special arrow from her quiver.

This arrow had a thick string tied on its end.

Then, she aimed it above and shot it immediately, hitting a branch that contained a house above.

With a single tug, the Elf launched upwards, landing perfectly on the balcony of the house.

So that's how they get up…

After a few seconds, the Elf came out with another Elf, and they came down on the stringed arrow still stuck on a branch.

Once they landed, the new Elf bowed his head towards Michael.

"I deeply thank you for your contribution to the Elven Kingdom," he said. "I have with me a small token in exchange for the Darkwood that you have imparted upon us."

He pulled out a very large pouch from his pockets, brimming to the top with something plentiful.

Michael's eyes widened as he heard that click clack as the 'things' inside the pouch rustled.

Those were Sand Dollars!

He had never seen a pouch so full with Sand Dollars that it could almost burst out!

He didn't even have any time to estimate how much was inside before the male Elf walked forward and handed it to him.

He felt the weight of the Sand Dollars in his hand and knew that this was the most he'd ever had in his entire life.

"The Elven Kingdom is willing to give 200,000 Sand Dollars in exchange for any Darkwood that you retrieve for us," the Elf said with a wide smile.

Michael stared at the pouch.

200,000…

He knew that he could sell Darkwood for a pretty penny given the Elves' need for it. But he never knew just how much he could earn from it.

This was equivalent to 20 drops of Soo, or 20 kilograms of GodForge pieces!

If all went well with his farm, he could earn a reliable 200,000 Sand Dollars every month from Darkwood!

And that wasn't even taking in the fact that he could possibly expand the farm to even more Darkwood seedlings per harvest.

If there was an option to upgrade the [Isolated Room] into something bigger—and there probably was—then he would spend as much Sand Dollars as he could in order to plant more Darkwood.

It was a worthy investment, seeing as he could earn 200,000 Sand Dollars per item.

The potential for this was endless!

"I appreciate this," he said to them.

"It is our pleasure," said the male Elf. "This is an incentive so that others would be more willing to retrieve Darkwood for us. Lady Farren does not skimp on money for it."

Michael nodded. "Well, if I have more, I certainly know who to give it to," he said.

The Elves laughed, thinking that Michael was joking.

He wasn't the first person who sold Darkwood to them. Many made it their life's mission to hunt down more Darkwood for a chance to get a sizable profit, but they never succeeded that well. At most, people would get lucky once, and that was it.

So, when Michael said those words, they considered it as nothing more than a hopeful wish.

"We will notify Lady Farren of your presence," said the female Elf. "You can return here in a few days and we can get you a meeting with her."

Michael thanked them again and turned to leave. His mind was still focused on the pouch of Sand Dollars in his pocket and how he could make it double in size.

"Okay, I'll be back," he said, waving them goodbye and walking back the way they came. "Tell Farren I asked how the compound bow is holding up!"

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